Dinner and a Movie with Moxie

  Van Helsing: The London Assignment Van Helsing: The London Assignment, is a 2004 animated short film (33 min) that was released to Pay-Per-View as a tie-in and prequel to the film Van Helsing, that was released the same year.   Though the film looks and feels like an anime it was created by Universal Cartoon Studios, and released by Universal Studios Home Video.   The short is directed by Sharon Bridgeton, and produced by John Kafka, and written by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens (a wife and husband writing team).    The film features of voices the characters from the live-action film, including Hugh Jackman as Gabriel Van Helsing, David Wenham as Friar Carl, Tress MacNeille as Queen Victoria, Tara Strong as the Young Victoria, Dwight Schultz plays Dr. Henry Jekyll/Jack The Ripper, with Robbie Coltrane as Edward Hyde/Jack The Ripper.  The film takes place just before the events of the feature film Van Helsing, and leads up to the opening scene of the live-action film.     The shor

  Tusk Writer and director Kevin Smith was talking to his longtime friend and producer Scott Mosier on their podcast Smodcast episode 259 The Walrus and the Carpenter, and the idea and concept of the film Tusk was created.   There was a poll taken on the podcast whether they should make the film or not.   If you see the name Kevin Smith on the film and expect to see a comedy like Clerks, Mallrats, or even an emotional comedy like Chasing Amy, then you are picturing the absolutely wrong thing.   This is a horror film, this is a disturbing, and shocking horror film, there are comedic elements, but this film is front and center a grotesque horror film.   Tusk is an independent film, written and directed by Kevin Smith, and released by A24 Films.   Tusk would be followed by two other Kevin Smith films set in Canada as part of his Truth North trilogy, which were Tusk, Yoga Hosiers, and Moose Jaw.  Tusk stars Justin Long as Wallace Bryton (Long was also in Smith's film Zack and Miri Make

  Tromeo & Juliet I have always loved Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, and I loved the classic Italian version of it, however I've never been a fan of the more modern version that was released in the 1990s.  Though there is one modern version of Romeo and Juliet that I do absolutely love, which is the 1996 Troma Films release of Tromeo & Juliet.  I like that in many ways this film attempts to keep true(ish) to the story of Romeo & Juliet, but setting it in modern day New York City, and the end is a bit... well less teenage suicide and more happy(?).   This film has violence, gore, sex, a lot of gratuitous nudity, and a giant penis monster(?), sure why not.  This film has a great punk/alternative rock sound track featuring bands like The Meat Puppets, Sublime, Motorhead, and Superchunk.  The narrator of the movie is Lemmy "from the house of Motorhead".   I will be straight up, I absolutely love this film, it is everything that I want from a Troma film. 

  Troll (1986) So my favourite Harry Potter film is Troll from 1986, which sees Harry Potter and his family move to a new apartment in San Francisco, and Harry Potter Jr's little sister gets possessed by a Troll and wreaks havoc, and turns the residents of the apartment building in to trolls and other fairy folks, and their apartments into lands of magic.  Then young Harry makes friends with an old lady in the building who happens to be a witch and teaches him a little magic to help him fight against the troll and save his sister.   J.K. Rowling has always denied that Troll was an inspiration for her magic wielding Harry Potter, though it is undeniable that there was another magical Harry Potter around long before those wonderful books about young wizards was written by Rowling.    One of the many things that fascinates me about this film is that most of the creative minds that created this film got their starts working under the B-Movie god Roger Corman.  Maybe that is part of why

 A Stroll Through Portland, Eastern Promenade and Old Port So on Monday I had a doctor appointment in Portland, and I felt like taking a walk afterwards.  Portland is a beautiful town, and it is one of the chief port cities of the east coast, and the harbor in Portland is the only harbor in Maine that deals in container shipping.  It is very common to see large oil tanker ships and container ships coming in to the harbor, in a few of the photos I took you will see a tanker coming into the port.    Portland is a beautiful small city, where the old meets the new, and classic meets modern, with the roots of the city going well beyond recorded history, where multiple native tribes have called the peninsula home, though the first European to settle the peninsula was Christopher Levitt from England in 1623, he called the settlement York.  However he failed to garner interest in the settlement upon return to England, and abandoned the settlement.  There is a fort in the bay that is visible in

  Fettuccini with Scallops in a Spinach and Mushroom Sauce I've been really craving pasta lately for some reason, and I was thinking about what I already had on hand, which was mushrooms, and then as I was in the supermarket in the veggie isle, I started thinking about how well spinach and mushrooms go together, and then I saw some sundried tomatoes, and was thinking that it had been awhile since I had some of those, and from there the idea for this sauce started coming together.   Now normally I don't purchase seafood from the supermarket, and try to only get it from a local fish market, but I wasn't going to drive all the way to Portland for a simple meal, so I was looking at what my local supermarket had, and the scallops looked pretty nice.  I was also thinking about how to make the sauce more saucy, and then the idea of adding a can of minced clams in clam juice came to my mind, and also a can of diced tomatoes to compliment the sun dried tomatoes, and to simmer togeth

The Tomb (2009) The Tomb (AKA Legia), is a 2009 horror film that is "based on" the Edgar Allen Poe short story Legia.  I put based on quotes because, say that it is based on the short story is a far stretch, I'm not even sure if "inspired by" is the proper phrase for this film.  The Tomb is directed by Michael Staininger with a screenplay by John Shirley.  The movie was filmed primarily in the Russia and the Ukraine, as well as some scenes around St. Louis Missouri.   The film stars Wes Bently as a poet and professor named Johnathan, Kaitlin Doubleday plays Johnathan's girlfriend Rowena, Sofia Skya plays Ligea a mysterious and dark woman who steals the souls of people and steals Johnathan from Rowena, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa plays Len Burris who is a higher up at the university that Johnathan works at, Mackenzie Rosman plays Loreli who is a young girl who is the niece of the caretaker of Legia's castle in Russia.  The film also features film veterans Michea

 Linguini with Veggies in a Clam Sauce I have was craving veggies, and I was thinking about how I had some cherry tomatoes that needed using up, and I had some Linguini that I should use, and pasta has been sounding good lately.  I was walking through Portland yesterday, and stopped at the Rosemont Bakery for lunch, and I saw these really cute little Brussels Sprouts that came from a local farm, and also a zucchini, the idea of a pasta dish started taking shape in my mind.  I love mushrooms, and I knew they needed to be in there, and I have been really digging parsley lately, and of course sea salt, garlic, and shallots had to make an appearance.  Then the final touch came when I stopped at the supermarket on my way home from Portland, and I saw this clam juice, and I was thinking that that would make a great base for this pasta dish.  Then of course we still had some non-dairy shredded parmesan, and this meal finally figured out in my mind what it was going to be.   I am sure that thi